How A Closet Cleanout Can Change Your Life

After I graduated from college, I brought home four huge boxes packed full of clothes. A week later, after much deliberation. I sent three of those boxes to a donation center. The sheer volume of stuff I cleared away was impressive, but what really stuck with me was the feeling afterward. I felt more like me.

Since I was experiencing a clear transition in my life, I was able to access a lot of intentionality. I reflected on the person I wanted to be after the cleanout as I touched each article of clothing: What did this future me feel like? What did she wear? And with a clear picture of her in my mind, it wasn’t just my biggest declutter ever but also my easiest.

“I reflected on the person I wanted to be after the cleanout as I touched each article of clothing: What did this future me feel like? What did she wear?“

A few other times in my adult life, I’ve done other cleanouts — moving across the country, moving abroad, the one time I got really into a spring cleaning challenge — but none felt as liberating as that post-undergrad declutter. 

I’ve come to realize that when a closet cleanout is the physical manifestation of an internal transformation — like it was that first time for me — it can be transformative. The goal isn’t just less stuff, it’s creating a life based on intention and following through to become the person you want to be. And yes, you can get there by sifting through your old clothes.

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The underrated power of a closet cleanout

Allison Bornstein, celebrity wardrobe stylist and author of “Wear It Well: Reclaim Your Closet and Rediscover the Joy of Getting Dressed,” asks her clients to perform a similar exercise when facing their closets. First, she tells clients to take a deep breath. Think of decluttering as a self-care exercise. Light a candle, play some mood-boosting music, or journal before approaching your closet.

“Think of decluttering as a self-care exercise. Light a candle, play some mood-boosting music, or journal before approaching your closet.”

As a stylist, it might seem counterintuitive that Bornstein focused on clearing out closets rather than adding to them. But this is no accident.

“A lot of times, we think that the next thing we buy will change our wardrobe and change our life, and we’ll put so much pressure on that thing and wait for it to arrive,” she told Vogue. “We put so much pressure on clothing. We don’t need more stuff, we need more ideas.”

When we feel the urge to change our lives, we often approach it by changing our external appearance. We put on a face mask, cut our hair, or buy new clothes and call it self-care. But the very concept of self-care has been commodified over the past decade into quick, consumable fixes that feel good in the moment but often do nothing — or even make us feel worse — in the long term. In reality, true self-care is often about doing the hard things and making difficult choices to support your long-term happiness. 

Which is what makes Bornstein’s approach to a closet cleanout so brilliant. Working through an internal transformation with something tangible like your closet can teach you how to make choices that align with your future self. (Delayed gratification and future-thinking are muscles you have to train, after all.)

“Working through an internal transformation with something tangible like your closet can teach you how to make choices that align with your future self.”

Closet cleanouts can have a big impact because they necessitate confronting your past choices to move forward. Working through your history in this way sets the stage for bigger changes, while also helping to define who your future self is.

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How cleanouts bring change

Every summer in high school, I did a “big chop” and cut my hair extremely short. I wanted a clean slate, and starting over physically felt like permission to reinvent myself in other ways. However, this change, though effective, was temporary. Hair grows back. 

Something like a closet cleanout means examining things you used to identify with and getting rid of them permanently. In moving on, it requires you to move forward and ask: Now what?

1. It helps you discover what you like

“Instead of buying things that other people like, you know what you like — helping you appreciate what you have and minimizing the stuff you buy in the first place.”

Part of the closet cleanout process is about cultivating taste. As Bornstein says, by understanding what you’re drawn to and why — in your closet and in the world around you — you can save time and money by following those edited impulses.

This is how you create a personal style or escape the mindless consumer loop in other areas of your life. Instead of buying things that other people like, you know what you like — helping you appreciate what you have and minimizing the stuff you buy in the first place.

2. It helps you discover what you need

What do you need? (This is the question that launched a thousand “hierarchy of need” memes.) This is about getting to the root of what’s missing in your life — the whole reason you want to do a closet cleanout in the first place.

I imagined my life if I only had the basics. If I took out the excess, what items would I bring back into my life to cultivate sustained happiness — rather than just short bursts of dopamine? I asked myself:

• What would a perfect day look like?
• What makes me feel energized?
• What do I wish I had more time for?
• What have I always wanted to try?

Then, I compared my answers to these questions with questions about how I actually spend my days:

• What do I spend too much time on?
• What do I spend too little time on?
• Do my days add up to the life I want to make?

Noticing the difference between how you live and how you want to live can help you prioritize what physical objects to keep in your life.

Marie Kondo’s famous minimalism is based on a similar ethos. “If you’re serious about tidying in a way that will change your life forever, this is the most important step — it cannot be skipped,” is Marie Kondo’s philosophy. “The true goal of tidying is to clear away clutter so you can live the life you want.”